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A customer touchpoint is defined as any way that you “touch” a customer or potential customer during the entire relationship lifecycle with your business. While this may seem like just another term for internal customer service processes, it is actually much more.

One of my favorite examples comes from a woman who runs a home cleaning business. She distinguishes her service by using only eco-friendly or “green” cleaning products. In general her clients are not home when she cleans and her green cleaning products do not leave that telltale chemical aroma. To create a “touchpoint” she leaves a small incense burning and a handwritten note. Her customers are greeted by a sparkling home, the wonderful sweet scent of lavender rather than ammonia and a very personal, caring touch.

1. Take on a client’s (or prospect's) point of view. Pretend (or better yet enlist an outsider) to be a new potential client. If you have distinctly different client groups, adopt a persona for each one.
2. List all your customer touchpoints. Experience all the ways that your customers experience or interact with your company, products or services. (The chart above starts a list of potential touchpoints.) A touchpoint can be direct or indirect (as in the case of a referral from a partner, customer, media, etc.)
3. What does the customer want to do? For each touchpoint, what are the expectations? What are the annoyances?
4. What experience do you want to create? What do you want the customer to think, do and feel at each touchpoint? How do you want your brand to project?
5. How can you enhance the customer experience? Are you meeting expectations? What is the emotion? Surprise? Delight? What’s getting in the way?

What are your customer touchpoints? How do you use them to create a better customer experience?